Il Comune >> La Città >> Taranto attraverso le immagini

Here we are in a court typical of the Mediterranean middle age architecture. It is in those wide but semi-closed places that people used to spend most of their time. This kind of housing was for common people, and since the XIV century there were external stairs to get to the entrance located at the upper floor. The one in the picture represents one of the few examples left in Taranto. The small lodge covering the stairs belongs to a more recent century and there are evident signs of its restoration.

It is in VICO REALE that on May 13, 1975 a wooden beam floor collapsed and six people were killed. It is not difficult, then, to imagine how bad the situation was in the historical centre of the town. This terrible event was the beginning of a relentless exodus during all of the 1970's.

Houses were let fall into decay and the slow but continuous restoration has halted only in part this attitude. Little by little people are going back home to ancient Taranto.